A Long Time Gone
by gnrkrystle
Summary: Paire, PeterNikki kinda Claire needs her Hero back


**Title: **A Long Time Gone

**Pairing: **Peter/Claire, Peter/Niki (kinda)

**Rating:** NC-17

**Summary:** Claire can't take it anymore, she has to see Peter.

**Spoilers: **Up through "Five Years Gone"

**Warnings:** Angsty

**A/N: **This idea has been rolling around in my head. Tell me what you think. Please leave feedback! I love it hehehe

She used to call him sometimes and hang up. It was childish, she knew, but for some reason, just the sound of his voice sometimes got her through the day. When she met Andy and decided to give up on the fantasies of the past, she stopped calling.

It turned out, however, that she could not escape the past. As she riffled through the paper back her 'father' had given her, she knew that no matter how hard she tried to be normal, there was no getting over the fact that she was not. Even if Andy loved her, and she could pretend to love him back as long as he lived.

How could the government be after her? Her bio-dad was the president for God's sake. She knew one thing, though. She wasn't going back to Washington or New York. She had to find Peter. She wasn't sure if it was because she needed his help or because she needed to see him, even if it was one last time.

She stuffed the credit cards, IDs, and plane tickets back into the bag and pulled off her apron. It was now or never. She had to do this. No matter how much time had passed, Peter would still be her hero, she knew it.

It had been 5 long years since she had seen him. Five years since the night things were changed between them, irreversibly. Five years since she felt him, moving inside her. Five years of loneliness and pain. They had only been together once, the night before the explosion, and then he was ripped out of her life so quickly she barely had time to catch her breath.

She knew he was in Vegas, she didn't know where, but she had a good idea it was in Linderman's casino, so that was where she headed off to, not even leaving a note for Andy. It was for his own good, she told herself. If she left a trace of herself behind, the government would call him in for questioning, and she was all too aware that they would find answers in him, even if he had none to give.

The short flight did nothing for Claire's nerves, but as she got off the plane, she was a woman on a mission. She took a cab straight for Linderman's Casino and within a few minutes she was standing before it, biting her lip in anticipation.

What would he say? Had he changed? Would he still be the man she loved? She didn't know, but she had to find out. If anyone could help her, it was Peter. He could do anything.

She entered the Casino and booked a room, getting settled before she went about the task of looking for Peter. She moved around the hotel with easy, trying to feel out his presence if she could.

Finally, she stumbled into a strip club, inside the hotel. She would have left immediately, knowing that Peter would definitely not be there, but something, or rather someone caught her eyes. Nikki. She was older and much thinner, but it was her. If Nikki was here, then Peter was probably here. She knew he had taken to watching over her after Micah and DL died in the explosion.

She slipped into the room and took a seat at one of the booths in the back. She didn't want Nikki to see her just yet, but if Peter came in, she wanted to be able to spot him. When Nikki's number was over, Claire slouched in her seat and looked around. The place was basically empty, but that could have something to do with the fact that it was about 1:00 on a Monday.

She saw Nikki come out of the dressing room, her hair long and straight behind her, a rob wrapped tightly around her. She sat at the bar and downed a shot before Peter appeared. Claire's breath hitched as she sat up straighter in her chair. Where did he learn to do that? She wondered if there was a lot of skills Peter had gained over the years.

Her internal monologue was cut short when she say Peter, lovingly, cup Nikki's face, lean in and kisser. This was not a friendly kiss, it was the kiss of lovers. A kiss she had shared with him only once, but it seemed Nikki was on the receiving end of that kiss a lot.

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. Peter and Nikki. They were together. And who could blame them really? It seemed that in this fucked up mess, the only sane people in the world were Claire, Hiro, Peter, Nikki, and her 'father.' They had to cling to each other. It didn't make it hurt any less.

She was so busy thinking that she didn't notice that Nikki had gone back stage again and Peter was looking in her direction. Did he see her? She didn't know if she wanted to talk to him anymore. If he was with Nikki, then she was probably his priority and protecting Claire could be dangerous. Maybe she shouldn't pull him into that.

But at that point it didn't much matter what she though because Peter moved out of his seat and toward her, his eyes never leaving hers. She thought she saw hunger in those eyes, and she couldn't help but hold out hope that those feelings she had been holding onto for five years were still reciprocated.

"Claire…" He breathed, closing the gap between them. He couldn't believe she was there. He didn't even know if she was still alive. It had been five years since they last saw each other, and she might have been invincible, but that didn't mean Sylar didn't get to her.

"I…" she started, but she really didn't know what to say. They were beyond words at that point. Words couldn't explain why she came looking for him after all this time.

He looked different. The scar across his face reminded her of the explosion and she wondered why it hadn't healed. She gave him that power, why hadn't it fully worked? Was it because she was too far from him?

He looked older, harder, and colder, but in his eyes she could still see the Peter she knew and loved. He was buried there somewhere, she just didn't know hoe far she might have to dig to find him.

"Are you staying here?" he asked. She nodded in affirmation and he reached out for her hand. Shocks ran through her system as she gave it to him and allowed him to pull her out of her seat. "Where?" he asked.

She still couldn't speak, the shock of him being there filling her completely. So, she handed him her room key and followed him to her room.

Once inside, she let out the breath she had been holding. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice not chastising, but rather, amazed.

"My father told me I had to leave. Nathan's people are looking for me, and I didn't know where else to go." She said, looking at the ground, trying desperately to avoid eye contact.

Peter took in the sight of her. She was a little taller, though still petite. Her beautiful blonde hair was now brown and he had to admit she truly looked like a Petrelli. Of course, that didn't keep him from seeing how beautiful and sexy she was all at the same time.

She looked scared. He only remembered seeing her that scared one other time in his life—the night he asked her to kill him if he was about to explode. But the fear in her eyes was deeper than before and he had to wonder what had happened to her over the years and why he hadn't been there to shield her from the pain.

"I'm glad you came," he said, softly as he led her into the room and sat next to her on the couch.

"I didn't realize you were with someone," Claire said, lamely. Peter's eyes softened for the first time in years as he lifted her chin to look at him.

"I'm not," he said.

"But what about Nikki?" she asked. She'd seen them. Was he honestly going to tell here there was nothing between them?

Peter sighed and laid his head back on the couch. "Nikki and I…" he started, looking for the right words to explain their situation. "Nikki and I comfort each other." He said.

Claire nodded. She could understand that. She was about to marry a man she didn't love simply for the feeling of comfort—something that she never truly felt in the first place. "Does it work?" she asked, truly curious if Peter had found the secret.

Peter seemed to think about it for a second before saying, "I haven't felt comfortable since the night before New York exploded." He said, simply. The implication of what he was saying was not lost of Claire and she looked into his eyes as if looking for the truth.

"Me either," she finally said, a breath away from him. "I understand if you have other priorities. I don't want to stay if I'm going to be a danger to you." She began. "But I really don't know where to go."

Peter pulled her close to him. He had longed for this moment for so long and now that it was here, he was having a hard time accepting the reality of it all. "Stay with me." He said, finally.

"Really?" Claire asked, fully prepared for him to tell her that he couldn't help her. She had heard through the grape-vine that he had given up on being a hero and protector.

"I'm your hero," he said with a small smile—the first one he had worn in five years. "And I haven't been doing a very good job."

Claire smiled back at him. It amazed her how in just a few minutes of being with each other they had already slipped back into their old feelings. This wasn't to say that things hadn't changed. She and Peter both knew that the innocence they had before New York went nuclear would never be regained. But just maybe…

"I love you," Claire said, not ashamed to admit that her feelings were the same as they had always been.

"I love you too, Claire," Peter replied lightly as his breath mingled with hers. He was getting closer and closer to her, and her eyes slipped shut a split second before his lips met hers.

It was like fireworks went off in their brains. The moment each of them had been longing for was finally there. "Peter…" Claire cried, pulling back to look at him. She had to know this was real. She was losing her grasp on reality.

Peter's intense gaze stared back at her and he pulled her roughly against him again, this time attacking her mouth like she was his life line and if he stopped kissing her the world would come to an end.

Clothes were shed in record time, the boundaries between them being erased with each ripping of material and pulling at buttons.

Peter lifted her into his arms and she wrapped her legs around him, allowing him to carry her to the bed. "God, I've waited so long for this," Claire cried. The thought that he was her uncle did not matter to either of them at all anymore. When you want something for five years, you will do anything to get it.

"Me too," Peter almost moaned as he kissed her neck, thoroughly. "I've missed you so much," he cried. The walls he built up were swiftly coming down around him as Claire gyrated against him with need.

"Fuck me, please, Peter. I need to feel you inside me again," Claire was almost on the verge of tears, her need overwhelming her. She was so close, and if this moment was taken away from her, she was sure she would die.

Peter was already there, rubbing the tip of his cock against her slick folds. In one quick thrust he pushed into her, finally feeling at home again. "Oh god," Claire moaned pulling his face to hers to kiss him. His tongue imitated the movement of their hips as he pushed in and out of her.

Claire lifted her legs to wrap around him and held on tight, her fingernails digging into his back. She felt them heal immediately and smiled at their shared power. "Claire, baby…" Peter moaned, his thrusts becoming harder and faster.

"Yes…need this…love you…" Claire got out between breathy moans. She was beyond the point of coherent though and for the first time in a long time she wasn't thinking about the end of the world, or her bio-dad, or Sylar. All she had on her mind was the raw passion of Peter…her Peter…fucking her like she had been dreaming about for years.

Peter could hear the thoughts in her head, and it only drove him harder and faster. She wanted him like he had wanted her since the moment they bumped into each other at her Homecoming. She was his, and he would protect her with his life.

He knew she was close as her breath was coming out in pants and her legs tightened around him. He reached between their bodies and flicked her clit with the pad of his thumb and immediately she tensed around him. "Oh god, yes. PETER!" she almost screamed as her slick walls clamped down around him and she came so hard she thought she might black out.

Peter could hold on no longer. The feeling of being inside her again and watching her come sent him of the edge. "Claire…" he breathed, barely above a whisper, as he spilled his white-hot come deep inside her, branding her his forever.

He lay on top of her, both spent and sated. They had, only once, ever felt this level of completion.

Finally, Peter rolled off of her, removing his now flaccid cock from within her. Claire almost groaned at the loss, but she knew this would not be the last time they were together. She was staying with Peter from now on. If that got her killed, who cared, because a life without Peter, as she knew, was not really worth living in the first place.

She rolled over to look at him, the smiles still on both of their faces. "So, why do you have the scar?" she asked.

Peter sighed. "The explosion…" he said, looking down at the sheets around him before looking back up at her. "It wasn't Sylar." He said. It was hard for him to admit to the one person he loved more than anything that he was a mass murderer. Claire looked up at him confused and he continued. "It was me. Nathan told everyone it was Sylar to protect me, but it was me. I couldn't control the power." He explained.

Claire could see tears building in the corners of his eyes and held him close. "We will get through this, Peter," she said, laying his head on her breast. "You would never intentionally kill people, and we will fix this. We just have to find Hiro."

Peter nodded and with that they both fell into the deepest sleep they had gotten on a half a decade.

The End.


End file.
